Ladies Prefer Rogues: Four Novellas of Time-Travel Passion

by Janet Chapman

The woman who he’d instantly pegged as a prissy, smartass pain-in-the-ass was anything but. Well, the smartass part still held true. But he liked that about her.

  Actually, he loved that about her.

  He also loved her mouth. The woman was one fast learner. And her body. And her scent and her greedy need to explore new territory. Including making love. He was almost certain she’d loved making love.

  Ty shook his head and jumped out of the car, jogging to the front door.

  Normally he walked right into the house, but for some reason he felt the need to ring the bell instead.

  She answered with a wide smile on her face, her hair up in a high ponytail and . . . “Wow,” he said.

  She had on a pair of pale pink shorts and a white tank top. She was barefoot and her toenails were painted pink. She looked flushed and extremely proud of herself.

  “Hi,” she said. “You’re not in your cop duds.”

  “And you’re in my mother’s shorts.”

  “Nope, these are mine! Come in!”

  “Where’s my mom?” he asked.

  “She and Trevor went to Reno for the day.”

  His eyes were glued to the back of her legs and her amazing butt. “Umm, well, that’s nice.”

  “It really is. I don’t know why you disapprove of him, Ty. He’s a very nice man.”

  She turned suddenly and, not paying attention to anything but that swinging backside of hers, he ran right into her. She almost fell back, but he grabbed her arms just in time.

  They stared at each other for a moment, and then he pulled her to him and kissed her before she could protest. His mind and body both exploded, responding to her obvious welcoming kiss.

  She nipped his lips, demanding entrance, and then sucked softly on first his upper, then lower lip. Ty held her closer and engaged her tongue in mouth foreplay. Her arms wrapped around his neck and she broke the kiss, then began nibbling on his ear. Her breasts pressed against his chest, and it was all he could do not to pick her up and carry her over his shoulder to her bedroom.

  “God, Maggie,” he rasped in her ear. “What you do to me.”

  “I feel what I’m doing to you,” she said, laughing softly against his neck. But then she stepped back and looked him over. “You look very, very good. I’ve decided I love you in jeans.”

  “Good,” he said and tried to pull her back to him.

  But she stopped him with a finger to his sternum. “You seduced me. And then you never called me. Your mother and I agree that you’re a brat.”

  The fact that she’d told his mother about their night was kind of scary. “I was going to. I was on duty the last two nights. I told you that.”

  “But you didn’t ask me out again.”

  “I’m asking you out right now,” he said desperately.

  “Oh, sure,” she said, turning her back and walking up the three steps from the foyer into the living room. “After I had to threaten you.”

  “I’m on vacation now, Maggie. I took a few days off so I could be with you,” he said, following her.

  She flopped onto the couch. “Your mother says you never take a vacation.”

  His mother talked way too much. “Exactly!” he said, holding his hands out wide. “See? That’s how much I wanted to spend more time with you.”

  Her frown turned into a smile. “Is this true?”

  “Have I lied to you yet?”

  “Yes.”

  “When?”

  “When you promised you’d feed me a hot dog.”

  “Want to go have a hot dog with me, Maggie?”

  She jumped up. “Yes!”

  Ty checked his watch. “You know, if we leave now, we can catch a baseball game. The Nevada Forkers are playing the Spikes in about twenty minutes.”

  “Do they have hot dogs at these games?”

  “Only the best in Nevada.”

  “Well then, let’s go!”

  Ty eyed her. “Do you want to get dressed?”

  She laughed. “I am dressed, silly man.”

  “In shorts.”

  “Yes. As just about every other woman in this town wears at this time of year.”

  “But your legs.”

  She looked down at herself. “What’s wrong with my legs? I thought, after the other night, that you liked them.”

  “And so did every other man who saw them. And that tank top.”

  “The problem with the top is what? I’m wearing a brawzeer.”

  “But . . . aren’t you uncomfortable with . . . you know . . . your arms and shoulders exposed?”

  “As your mom says, ‘when in Rome.’ ”

  “I might have to kill my mother.”

  Maggie laughed. “Suck it up, cowboy.”

  He didn’t want to suck it up. He preferred when she was too shy to allow an ounce of skin showing. Unless it was for him. But if he was going to talk her into staying in this year, in his town, he was going to have to get used to her catching up with the twenty-first century. He just sort of wished she wasn’t catching up so damn fast. “At least put on some shoes. You won’t be allowed into the stadium barefoot.”

  “Stadium? Do I need to write this one down?”

  “Put on shoes and learn for yourself.”

  “So those clothes are yours?” Ty asked, as they headed down toward the Forker’s stadium.

  “Yes!” she said, smiling. “At least they will be officially mine when the bidding on eBay ends. Bree was sweet enough to lend me some money, which I’ll be able to pay back when PayPal pays up.”

  “So the bidding’s going well?”

  “Oh, Ty, as it stands now, I’ll have more money than I ever dreamed possible.”

  “Well, good,” he said, not meaning it for a moment. With money, she could go anywhere, do anything. It was a totally selfish feeling, wanting her to be tied to Little Fork. And yet he couldn’t help it. “And what are you going to do with your new-found fortune?”

  She was quiet for a few too long seconds. “I . . . haven’t decided.”

  “Buy a house?” he asked. “I have a friend who’s a real estate agent. I’m sure she could find you the perfect place.”

  “Or . . . I could travel.”

  “Or you could travel,” he said. Not without me you won’t, he didn’t say. He had no right to try and tie her here. Not when she was discovering an entire new world. But as long as she was here, he could damn well try to show her the benefits of making Little Fork her hometown.

  “This is amazing!” Maggie said, licking mustard from her fingers, then wiping her hands with a paper napkin.

  “I take it you like the hot dogs,” Ty said dryly. “Want a fourth?”

  “Oh, I couldn’t possibly. Not for at least another inning.”

  “The way this game is going, that means about another ten minutes.”

  “Sounds about right,” she said, lifting her new sunglasses and smiling at him. “I’m having so much fun.”

  She took another sip of soda, then grabbed his hand as the sound of the bat cracking a ball filled the air, and she followed the ball soaring over the stadium. It hit the stand at the far end of the field. “Home run! But why isn’t that man running around the bases?”

  “Foul ball,” Ty said. “They have to get them in between the posts for it to count as a home run.”

  “And you say you teach this sport?” she asked, trying to draw him out. He’d been unusually quiet the last couple of innings, and she wasn’t quite sure why. When they’d first arrived, he’d been answering her questions and seemed to be enjoying himself. But in the last minutes, he’d gone almost mute.

  Did he hate wasting his vacation time on her? Did he wish he was somewhere else?

  “I coach Little League softball to kids. This is semi-pro ball.”

  “Do you enjoy coaching them?”

  He smiled for the first time in innings, and all she wanted to do was touch the dimple in his chin. “I enjoy it a lot. I love watching them learn and work hard to improve.
I love being there the first time one of my kids makes a base hit. Or an out.”

  “I bet watching the first home run is pretty freakin’ cool, too,” she said.

  He finally laughed. “Yep, it’s pretty freakin’ cool.”

  “That’s how I felt about teaching.”

  He turned his head to face her. She regretted the glasses that hid his amazing eyes. “Do you miss teaching?”

  “I do.”

  “You could teach again.”

  “Oh, Ty! Teach what? It will take me years to catch up with modern schooling, with the world.”

  “I bet you could teach pre-Civil War history just about better than anyone could.”

  “Yes, I suppose so. But I researched, and teachers now have to have college degrees and certificates to be hired.”

  “True. I don’t suppose your resume would qualify,” he said, and then went silent again.

  “Ty,” she asked, laying a hand on his muscular thigh. “What’s wrong with you? Do you . . . want to be somewhere else? Because if so, just tell me.”

  “Jesus, Maggie,” he said, his head dropping.

  “You do. That’s all right,” she said, cursing herself for the catch in her voice. “Then go. Please. I’ll find a way back home. I’ll hire one of those car taxis.”

  She pulled her sunglasses down over her eyes, so he wouldn’t see the moisture she felt gathering there.

  He grabbed her hand. “No, I don’t want to be anywhere else, Maggie.”

  “Then what’s wrong? Tell me, please. Am I embarrassing you? I mean, I know people have been looking at us a little strangely. I’ll try not to ask so many questions. Or I won’t ask any at all.”

  “Dummy,” he said, putting his arm around her and pulling her against him, making her almost spill her drink. “The problem is, I don’t want to be anywhere else.”

  “But you’d rather be here without me.”

  He lifted his sunglasses and then hers, so they were looking straight into each other’s eyes. “I’d rather be anywhere as long as it’s with you.”

  She blinked. “And this is a problem how?”

  An organ started playing, and there was no way he’d be able to say something without shouting. So she watched him glare up toward the loudspeakers, then back at her, swallowing hard several times. Everyone around them stood up for some reason she couldn’t fathom. So they seemed alone down on the bench, cocooned in the bodies surrounding them. Finally he leaned over and whispered, “Because I don’t know what I’m going to do when you leave me.”

  Seven

  “Where are you taking me?” Maggie asked, laughing. “Are you kidnapping me, Ty?”

  “Sort of.”

  It was the day after the baseball game, and Ty had shown up at eleven o’clock in the morning at Bree’s house. Before Maggie could say “Boo!” Ty had swung her around and tied a silk scarf of some sort over her eyes.

  She’d panicked and tried to fight him at first, but he’d said, “Shhh, sweetheart. This is a fun surprise.”

  “But why must you blindfold me?”

  “Trust him, Maggie,” Ty’s mom had said. “You’ll like this surprise.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Have I steered you wrong yet?”

  “Well, Ty wasn’t as happy with the shorts I bought as you said he’d be,” Maggie replied.

  “Oh, he was happy,” Bree said. “He just didn’t want to share how booty-licious you looked in them with other eyes.”

  “Booty—”

  “That’s a good thing, Maggie,” Ty said. “Come on, you adventurous little soul, just go with the flow.”

  And she had. Because after what Ty had said to her at the baseball game yesterday, after an evening of sharing Chinese food and lovemaking in front of his fireplace, how could she not?

  The man was amazing. Admittedly, as gentle as he’d tried to be their first night together, the making love part had been painful. But also wonderful. She had not had any idea how special it could be to have a man be part of her, inside her. And the way he’d touched her and tasted her had been magnificent. Last night had been even better. It amazed her that she felt so free with this man.

  In her time, making love before marriage made a woman a very, very bad person. But she didn’t feel bad at all. It was so . . . freeing. So . . . right. Her mother had always told her that she’d know when the time was right. She’d known even then that what her mother was saying was a scandalous opinion. One not shared by very many people. But if her mother was here right now, Maggie knew she’d approve. Just as Ty’s mother had approved when she’d confided in her.

  Oh, how she wished her mother had come on this journey with her. Then again, she was certain her mother knew about this. Maybe even orchestrated it somehow. She’d wanted so desperately for Maggie to have freedom. Joy. Choices. And Maggie felt like she had all of these things right now. Not to mention a very handsome man who seemed to like being with her. As much as she loved being with him. Imagine that? Mom, you’d like him.

  “I have to tell you,” she said, as the wind whipped through her hair, “being blindsided—”

  “Blindfolded.”

  “Fine, being blindfolded is not my idea of a good time.”

  “Oh, you’d be surprised. Ever made love with a blindfold on?”

  She snorted. “As if.”

  “I hate to tell you Mags, but that little saying is so twentieth century.”

  “Meaning what?”

  “Meaning it’s outdated. Nobody says that anymore.”

  “Oh. Well, the point being, you know darn well we’ve never made love blindfolded.”

  “We might have to try it sometime.”

  “I don’t think so. I like looking at your body.”

  “And how glad I am of that.”

  “Ty?”

  “Hmm?”

  “Why didn’t you let me answer you yesterday? After the sweet thing you said?”

  “Because I wasn’t ready to hear your answer. And I’m pretty darn certain you weren’t ready to give me one.”

  “But—”

  “No buts, okay? Let’s just enjoy today.”

  “How can I enjoy it, when I can’t see it?”

  “You’ll see it soon enough,” he said, bringing his car to a halt and yanking on the brakes.

  The air was suddenly still and quiet, except for the sound of birdsong. “Are we here?”

  “We’re here.”

  “Where’s here?”

  “You, Miss Prescott, are about to find out.”

  She heard him come around the car, his shoes crunching against some kind of gravel.

  He opened her door and helped her out. She punched him lightly in the gut. “Ow! What was that for?”

  “It’s Ms. Prescott to you.”

  He laughed and started guiding her to their destination. “Step up.”

  She did, and they were now on concrete or something solid. He guided her, his one hand on her waist and the other on her shoulder, and Maggie reveled in his fingers on her body. In just a few short days she’d grown to love his hands on her. All over her.

  Finally he stopped her and said, “Ready?”

  “I’m not sure.”

  He chuckled, and then whipped the silk from her eyes.

  “Surprise!” a bunch of people yelled, and Maggie boggled at the sight before her. About thirty people were standing around the pool on the back patio of Bree’s house. There were colored balloons everywhere and a big sign that read, Happy Birthday, Maggie!

  “Oh, my!” she said, her hand going to her heart.

  Ty grinned at her and kissed her cheek. “Happy birthday, sweetheart.”

  “I . . . I’d forgotten.”

  She didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Among the people smiling at her were Jinx and Sonia and Louise, several other nurses from the hospital, Bree and her boyfriend Trevor, Fannie Mae from the Rooster, and a dozen or so others she didn’t recognize.

  Jinx approached, a lov
ely Asian-looking woman on his arm. He handed her a glass of what looked like champagne. “Happy birthday, Maggie,” he said and kissed her on the cheek, also.

  “I don’t know what to say,” she said.

  “How about, ‘let the party begin’ ?”

  “Well first, thank you. Thank you all,” she said.

  “And?” Ty nudged.

  “And . . . let the party begin!”

  Ty sat in one of his mom’s pool lounge chairs, watching Maggie. She looked so damn pretty in a flowery sundress and sandals, an outfit, he was certain, his mother had coerced her to wear for the day.

  After her initial shock, Maggie had embraced the celebration in a way he hadn’t expected. She’d switched roles from invited guest to party hostess in a flash and was walking around thanking everyone and chatting with them.

  People migrated to her like lemmings to a cliff. Just as he had. Only he was afraid he’d be the one to jump off.

  Yet every so often she’d look around until she spotted him, then she’d toss him a heart-melting smile before returning to the guest who was trying to soak in her aura.

  Jeez, he was out of his mind. Her aura? Man, he’d listened one too many times to his mother’s view of the world.

  The afternoon slowly melted into evening, and yet only a few had left Maggie’s party. It seemed they couldn’t get enough of her. He had that in common with them.

  “Earth to Ty,” he heard.

  He blinked and dragged his gaze from Maggie to Jinx, who pulled up a chair beside him. “Hey,” Ty said. “Thanks again for helping my mom pull this together so fast.”

  “Not a problem. The problem’s you.”

  “What? How so?”

  “You’ve been grilling for most of the afternoon, and then you just plunk yourself down. You’ve been sitting here staring at her for the last half hour straight. Shouldn’t you be mingling? Maybe by her side?”

  “I want her to have fun.”

  “Well, I see your point, because you sure as heck aren’t a barrel of laughs these days. What’s up with that?”

  “I’m PMSing,” Ty said.

  “Very funny, pretty boy.”

  Ty took a swig of beer, then made a face. It had grown warm since his last sip, which was probably at least thirty minutes ago. “I want her to be happy.”